Lacasse promised big returns over 10 years, after which time he promised his company would buy back the buildings, Doyle said.

"By and large they all suffered large losses," Doyle said. "I cannot recall what the amount was but it wasn't pretty, put it that way.

"The projections showed that there was money to be made," Doyle said. "However, behind the projections, the assumptions were very risky. Certainly if real estate had escalated in value money was to be made, but you had to assume that real estate was going to go up by an unrealistic amount.

"The problem is, in many of these situations, the whole story is not being told to the purchaser of the investment product," Doyle added. "They don't see the whole picture. They don't see what's behind the drapes. And if they did, and properly examined it, and tried to get their eye off the high rate of interest or high returns being promised, they would realize that they were taking a substantial risk."